National Geographic's top photos of the week

 Mt. Etna erupted for the first time in the new year. As the cloud of smoke rose into the sky, the sun was also rising behind me, painting beautiful, vibrant colors on the smoke cloud, almost giving an illusion of fire in the sky. I created this HDR image by shooting three different exposures. It seemed to be the only way I could capture the colors I was seeing.
Photo and caption courtesy Joshua Yurche/National Geographic

 Beautiful sunny morning in National Park Celaquein, Honduras
Photo and caption courtesy Eva Liskova/National Geographic

 Forest in early winter, near the Danube River, in Vojvodina, Serbia
Photo and caption courtesy Boris Bajcetic/National Geographic

 Diran Peak is neighbor of Rakaposhi. Since opening of Karakoram Highway it has become increasingly popular due to its easy approach from the road. Though its lower part has an easy climb, it has not had a big success rate due to serious climbing requirements. It was first attempted by the Matthias Rebitsch Expedition via the Southern Route in 1954.
Photo and caption courtesy Mudesar Ahmed/National Geographic

 One of the native species that can be found on the archipelago of Antarctica is the leopard seal. They can measure from 2 to 3.6 meters and weigh 600 kilos.
Photo and caption courtesy Fernanda Pateo/National Geographic

 I was looking to capture interesting texture images. This duck had just come to the surface of the pond after a dive. The green algae in the water added a nice extra splash of color   
Photo and caption courtesy Andrea Mazzotta/National Geographic

 After waiting over two hours for any decent light in the biting cold on Christmas day, I got in the car to return home. About 5 minutes later I thought, let's not give up just yet. I turned around and could see an opening in the clouds coming. Just one. I ran to the beach, set up, and the opening passed in the perfect place to reveal the sun on the pier, in South Haven, Michigan, USA.
Photo and caption courtesy Timothy Wenzel/National Geographic
   

Leopard
Photo and caption courtesy Goran Anastasovski/National Geographic